Mother Nature Fooled by Mother Nature!

The warm winter has fooled some of our plants into thinking it is Spring, but Saturday an arctic cold front dropped the high temperature 30 degrees from Friday.  I'm not sure what the plants will think after our wacko summer drought last year and the crazy temperatures so far this year.   But for now I'm just enjoying the blooms, especially since we had none last year.

Beaming

Here is an in-progress shot of the beam trim overhead in the Kitchen and Dining area being installed.  Progress Saturday was slower than expected since my helper was stranded in his home by flood waters for overnight storms.  But I at least achieved some proof-of-concept satisfaction as all the details went together pretty much as I had planned.  Beneath the each stained plywood- wrapped beam you see will be 16 feet of 1x6 solid red oak to cover the plywood edges and the raw joist. 

Beam me up Marky

Now that the living room (foreground) is just about complete, my sights are set on finishing the kitchen/dining room (background). And the only things left to do there are the ceiling beams you can see, fairly nasty looking now with paint over-spray on them. I'm going to wrap them in stained cabinet-grade wood to fit in with the bookcase. It all starts this coming Saturday morning, and my goal is to cut, stain, and install all the beam side panels on that single day. Then I'll order the solid trim for the bottoms of the beams for installation on another day.  Should be loads of fun!

High Tech Relaxing

Ann is sitting pretty with her iphone, a good book, and what looks to be an iced coffee on the back deck.   Not a bad way to keep up with what is going on in the world while maintaining serenity.